On August 2, 2016, a Florida medical malpractice arbitration panel found that the defendant hospital’s medical negligence caused the death of a pregnant woman who had gone to its emergency room with breathing problems. The medical malpractice arbitration panel awarded the woman’s child, who was delivered by emergency Cesarean delivery after her mother became unresponsive when she lost oxygen to her brain, and the child’s father $3.73 million, along with $560,000 in legal fees and costs.
The three-person Florida medical malpractice arbitration panel awarded about $1.4 million for loss of support, $1.81 million for loss of household services, and $23,000 for the mother’s funeral expenses. The panel further awarded the child and her father $250,000 each for their emotional damages. The Florida medical malpractice arbitration award totaled $3,730,976.28.
The Alleged Facts
The 24-year-old pregnant woman was 33 weeks pregnant wen she arrived in the defendant hospital’s emergency room, complaining of shortness of breath. The paramedics had placed the woman on oxygen but the hospital staff allegedly removed the woman from oxygen in the emergency room. During the eight hours, she was in the emergency room, her breathing became progressively more labored. After she began spitting up blood, an emergency room physician attempted to intubate the woman (an anesthesiologist was unavailable in the defendant hospital at that time).
Within minutes, the woman suffered respiratory arrest and her prognosis was grave. The baby was then delivered by emergency C-section after which she was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit. Efforts to revive the mother were unsuccessful and she remained in a vegetative state until she suffered a fatal heart attack on November 18, 2014, three months after giving birth. Fortunately, the child did not suffer serious injury and is healthy today.
As a result of the Florida hospital’s medical negligence, the now two-year-old child will grow up without the guidance and love of her mother, the mother will not experience the joy and pride of caring for her little girl as she grows up, and the husband is deprived of his life partner as time continues to tick on by as his daughter grows into adulthood without the shared experience of parenthood. It is difficult to comprehend how this child’s life would have been different if her mother had received proper and timely medical care that would have prevented her untimely death.
No child should grow up without the love of his or her parents. No adult should be deprived of seeing his or her child’s face at birth and experiencing all the attributes of parenthood because medical negligence caused a life to be unexpectedly cut short.
If you or a loved one suffered serious harm (or worse) during childbirth in Florida or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a medical malpractice lawyer in Florida or in your U.S. state who may investigate your medical negligence claim for you and represent you and/or your child in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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